Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Contributors
- Elastomeric Proteins
- 1 Functions of Elastomeric Proteins in Animals
- 2 Elastic Proteins: Biological Roles and Mechanical Properties
- 3 Elastin as a Self-Assembling Biomaterial
- 4 Ideal Protein Elasticity: The Elastin Models
- 5 Fibrillin: From Microfibril Assembly to Biomechanical Function
- 6 Spinning an Elastic Ribbon of Spider Silk
- 7 Sequences, Structures, and Properties of Spider Silks
- 8 The Nature of Some Spiders' Silks
- 9 Collagen: Hierarchical Structure and Viscoelastic Properties of Tendon
- 10 Collagens with Elastin- and Silk-like Domains
- 11 Conformational Compliance of Spectrins in Membrane Deformation, Morphogenesis, and Signalling
- 12 Giant Protein Titin: Structural and Functional Aspects
- 13 Structure and Function of Resilin
- 14 Gluten, the Elastomeric Protein of Wheat Seeds
- 15 Biological Liquid Crystal Elastomers
- 16 Restraining Cross-Links in Elastomeric Proteins
- 17 Comparative Structures and Properties of Elastic Proteins
- 18 Mechanical Applications of Elastomeric Proteins – A Biomimetic Approach
- 19 Biomimetics of Elastomeric Proteins in Medicine
- Index
2 - Elastic Proteins: Biological Roles and Mechanical Properties
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Contributors
- Elastomeric Proteins
- 1 Functions of Elastomeric Proteins in Animals
- 2 Elastic Proteins: Biological Roles and Mechanical Properties
- 3 Elastin as a Self-Assembling Biomaterial
- 4 Ideal Protein Elasticity: The Elastin Models
- 5 Fibrillin: From Microfibril Assembly to Biomechanical Function
- 6 Spinning an Elastic Ribbon of Spider Silk
- 7 Sequences, Structures, and Properties of Spider Silks
- 8 The Nature of Some Spiders' Silks
- 9 Collagen: Hierarchical Structure and Viscoelastic Properties of Tendon
- 10 Collagens with Elastin- and Silk-like Domains
- 11 Conformational Compliance of Spectrins in Membrane Deformation, Morphogenesis, and Signalling
- 12 Giant Protein Titin: Structural and Functional Aspects
- 13 Structure and Function of Resilin
- 14 Gluten, the Elastomeric Protein of Wheat Seeds
- 15 Biological Liquid Crystal Elastomers
- 16 Restraining Cross-Links in Elastomeric Proteins
- 17 Comparative Structures and Properties of Elastic Proteins
- 18 Mechanical Applications of Elastomeric Proteins – A Biomimetic Approach
- 19 Biomimetics of Elastomeric Proteins in Medicine
- Index
Summary
INTRODUCTION
The objective of this chapter is to present an analysis of structural design in elastic proteins, to elucidate the functional role that these materials play in the lives of real organisms, and to discover whether molecular mechanisms in these materials could be exploited through biotechnology. One striking feature of the elastic proteins we will consider is that they exhibit an exceptionally broad range of material properties and functional roles. As a starting point, therefore, it may prove useful to explore some general features of mechanical design in elastic proteins to set the stage for the detailed analysis of the individual proteins in the chapters that follow.
It is frequently assumed that mechanical and biochemical devices in organisms represent perfect or near perfect solutions to the problems that organisms encounter in their lives. Although it is not clear if this optimistic view is strictly true for elastic proteins, or for any other systems in biology, it is likely that elastic proteins are relatively good designs because they have been tested and modified through eons of evolutionary history. For the purpose of our discussion, we will define ‘design’ as the relationship between the structure and the function of biological devices, as they exist in living organisms. There are two paths towards an understanding the design of elastic proteins. Most obvious, the direct analysis of microscopic and molecular structure will reveal details of molecular mechanisms in elastic proteins and will document structure–property relationships for these materials.
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- Information
- Elastomeric ProteinsStructures, Biomechanical Properties, and Biological Roles, pp. 15 - 38Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003
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